Audiobook lovers and those eager to dip your ears into the format, this year’s finalists for best audiobooks across the 27 categories of the Audie Awards have been announced. The Audies, presented by the Audio Publishers Association, recognize excellence and distinction in audiobook and spoken-word entertainment. They are given to the performer of the audiobook.
Several changes have been made to this year’s slate of awards. Among them are the changing of Best Female Narrator and Best Male narrator. To be more inclusive, these categories are now Best Fiction Narrator and Best Nonfiction Narrator.
This year also marks the first time that the Audies have introduced the APA Choice Awards. The award recognizes audiobooks which have become cultural phenomena and kept listeners hooked.
Find the finalists in some of the category below. Winners will be announced at the annual Audio Publishers Association Gala, which takes place this year on March 4 in Los Angeles. Learn more about the Audies and the Audio Publishers Association and get the full roster of finalists in each category here.
AUDIOBOOK OF THE YEAR
- Inside Voice: My Obsession with How We Sound written and narrated by Lake Bell
- Sing a Black Girl’s Song by Ntozake Shange, edited by Imani Perry, foreword by Tarana Burke; narrated by Alfre Woodard, D. Woods, Regina Taylor, Lynn Whitfield, Okwui Okpokwasili, Ifa Bayeza, Imani Perry, Robin Miles, Tarana Burke, and Savannah Shange
- Surrender written and narrated by Bono
- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, narrated by Meryl Streep
AUTOBIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
- Behind the Seams written and narrated by Dolly Parton, Holly George-Warren, and Rebecca Seaver
- Saved written and narrated by Benjamin Hall
BEST FICTION NARRATOR
- Meryl Streep for Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
BEST NON-FICTION NARRATOR
FANTASY
- Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian, narrated by John Pirhalla
FICTION
- Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton, narrated by Saskia Maarleveld
- Maame by Jessica George, narrated by Heather Agyepong
- One Blood by Denene Millner, narrated by Bahni Turpin, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, and Tina Lifford
- Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, narrated by Meryl Streep
MYSTERY
- The Golden Gate by Amy Chua, narrated by Robb Moreira, Tim Campbell, and Suzanne Toren
NON-FICTION
ROMANCE
SCIENCE FICTION
- Wool by Hugh Howey, narrated by Edoardo Ballerini
THRILLER/SUSPENSE
- Bad Cree by Jessica Johns, narrated by Tanis Parenteau
- None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell, narrated by Nicola Walker, Louise Brealey, and a full cast including Kristin Atherton, Ayesha Antoine, Alix Dunmore, Elliot Fitzpatrick, Lisa Jewell, Thomas Judd, Dominic Thorburn, and Jenny Walser
YOUNG ADULT
- Beholder by Ryan La Sala, narrated by Vikas Adam
- Stolen Heir by Holly Black, narrated by Saskia Maarleveld
The audiobooks named as the first APA Choice honorees are Fourth Wing, Never Finished, Spare, The Covenant of Water, and The Woman in Me.